RAMpocalypse has bought Microsoft valuable time in the fight against SteamOS

Dissolved Air

Valve’s Steam Engine was poised to build on the success of the Steam Deck, but it’s currently in limbo, and so is the Deck.

Credit: Valve

But Valve’s push to compete directly with Microsoft and PC hardware manufacturers has hit a wall, at least for now: the high cost and increase of all types of PC hardware, especially memory and storage chips.

The problems that began to affect the PC hardware market by the end of 2025 are now being felt across the consumer technology industry. All chip makers are chasing the AI ​​gold rush, which requires memory, storage, GPUs, and (increasingly) even CPUs. This means less production of components that go into consumer hardware, and more fighting over what’s left. Prices that were already being raised by the Trump administration’s illegal taxes are now being raised because of shortages instead.

This has become a huge challenge for anyone trying to make cheap or low-cost devices. Game console price reduction, already a thing of the past due to the death of Moore’s Lawit has changed the price transportation on the contrary. Companies like Raspberry Pi and Framework raised prices several times this year; even Apple, which has historically been able to get good deals because of its size, has been struggling.

For Valve, these problems have not only delayed the Steam Machine forever (“the first half of the year” is still the order, giving Valve two months to figure it out), but they have also made the 4-year-old Steam Deck unsaleable. Third-party handset manufacturers have raised prices and delayed things forever, taking away another source of SteamOS first-time users.

It was always hard to see how the Steam Machine would react competing with consoles on priceand it’s probably true though that consoles now cost more than they did a few years ago. Even that he does installation, and even if Valve can keep it, it can be found at a price that most people are willing to pay.